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The Palmetto Bluff Half Marathon and 10K 2017

This race takes place in Bluffton South Carolina, USA, in a beautiful setting at the Palmetto Bluff exclusive gated community. Not fully built yet so most of the route is on nice wide paved roads surrounded with nothing but Southern Oaks, Pine trees, Palm trees and of course a lot of Palmettos. Starting the race early on Sunday morning adds to the serenity until the roads are overtaken by runners. About 700 registered runners take part, with the majority running the Half.

Race Report

This is the 3rd year I’m running the Half Marathon here. The first year I set a PR on this course. Last year I ended up walking a lot (bad choice of running shoes…a long story). This year my goal was to finish the course at a good pace without hurting my knee. As you may already know I have had knee issues the last couple of months. Not looking for a PR but a good solid run. A benchmark, if you’d like, to build on from here.

The weather

Overcast with light rain in spots and mostly misty. The temperature at start time 51F degrees. Breezy most of the time with gusts of 15 to 20 m/h. This could be a problem.

The Race

Runners were summoned to the Start line. The race is chip-timed so it doesn’t matter where you start from. it times you from the moment you cross the Start line till you cross it again on the way back to Finish. A very young lady (13 y.o) delivered us the National Anthem in an Amazing way and the race started shortly after that.

A thick crowd of runners made its way through the picturesque Town Center of the community. Within a few minutes we were out on open road with nothing but trees surrounding the course. The runners starting to settle into their paces. I was between 8:50 and 9:05. It felt within my comfort zone and wanted to keep it there. The first 4 miles went by quickly. The wind was not so bad. The tall trees that surrounded us blocked most of it. Rain and mist had cleared but it was still overcast. Miles 5 through 7 the course turned and the wind started to be noticeable but not too bad, yet. At mile 8 we came upon a surprise, the road pavement ended and now we were on a hard packed dirt road with loose gravel. Not good! It was about a third of a mile and we got back on pavement. Until now I had been pretty steady holding the pace around 8:50-9:05.

Later in the race

Suddenly the route turns slightly to the left and at an open field we have the wind head on for a mile and a half. There were moments that the wind was literally stopping me. My quads started to burn trying to push through this wall of resistance. Finally, mile 11 and we turned again from the wind and gave me a chance to compose myself but I had burned a lot to get at this point. At mile 12 we turned again and again facing the wind.

The last part of the race

By now we were back at the Town Center and the wind channelling through the buildings was coming strong at us. This was the worst part. Now the wind was at it’s strongest and I was spent. With only less than a couple of hundred of yards left we made a turn to the Finish to realize the course was short by almost a quarter of a mile, 12.89 miles to be exact not 13.1. Much to my surprise because the course had been spot on the last two years and it was USATF certified. This year they had to change the Start/Finish line and someone messed up. Official time 01:58:25. Happy with the knee and the effort!

Race support

Aid stations were placed throughout the course from 2 to 3 miles apart all offered water and Gatorade and with two of them stocked with GU. As far as I know they had enough to supply all runners. Volunteers were great directing the race but crowd support almost non existent.

Post race

The medals were nice as usual. The event provides everyone with water bottles, coffee and bananas. With your race entry you also get a coupon for a cup of beer crafted by a local brewery and a coupon for a BBQ sandwich. Sorry vegetarians you can have all you can eat bananas and maybe that is what happened since they ran out early.

Overall this is a good small venue and most likely I will be back next year!